Tarmac to Gravel

The Darling 200 rally is the last event on the WA rally calendar and run in mid November, the event is often warm and dusty.

This year, we are running a 2 car team in the rally. The first car is a Ford Escort MK2 which will run in the WA Clubman Cup section of the rally as car 4. The second car is one of our familiar WRX rally cars that will run at the rear of the field as car 35.

In 2012, the Escort won the Darling 200 rally, before swapping from active duty on gravel events to less demanding tarmac historic events. The conversion was straight forward enough, remove the co-driver’s seat and some other gravel specific parts, lower the suspension and re-tune to suit.

Whilst the Escort enjoyed a quiet program of just 2 tarmac events, it’s gravel replacement (Nissan 180SX) entered every round of the 2013 WA Rally Championship. The 180SX showed up expected teething troubles during the year and at the last event, a broken radiator and subsequent overheating, led to head gasket failure.

With only 4 weeks between the last 2 gravel rallies of the year the Nissan will receive an engine rebuild and further development during the summer break, in preparation for 2014. With no championship concerns on the run up to the Darling 200, the decision was made to bring the Escort out for “just one last play” on the gravel.

The Escort returned to our workshop for conversion from tarmac to gravel spec the day before scrutineering for the necessary work. Before a rally, all the competing vehicles need to be inspected for safety and compliance with the rules. This inspection is known as scrutiny and all cars must pass in order to compete.

As the Escort is a former gravel rally car, there wasn’t too much to do. Here’s the list:

Fit co-driver’s seat

Fit co-driver’s race harness

Fit additional roll cage padding

Fit 2nd fire extinguisher

Fit spare wheel

Fit jack and tools

Fit safety triangle

Test rally computer

Raise suspension to gravel heights

Re-fit sump guard

Sort and fit rally tyres

After all the items were completed, the Escort was washed and along with the WRX taken to scrutineering. As expected, the cars passed without problems.

During scrutineering, the event stickers are also issued. These will be applied to the cars before the rally starts.